How to make a macromea bracelet

On our recent 49 hour non-stop sail from Greece to Sicily, I decided to have a go at making a macromea bracelet. As a kid I remember making them back when I was in school so I thought a little refresher would remind me how to make them. After a quick look at some Pinterest boards on macromea my memory responded and I was on my way.

Interestingly, while making the bracelets I made a massive discovery

To my delight, I discovered that making bracelets kept my sea sickness at bay. I’m not kidding – as long as I was sitting in the cockpit doing my little knots I felt perfectly fine. Once I came to the realisation that I was feeling great I decided to keep making the bracelets! I now have over 25 of these bad boys and even if I have to throw them away the anti-seasickness effect was well worth the effort.

So, here is a step by step picture diagram on how to make a basic macromea bracelet. Once you make a couple of these you can increase the amount of string in the middle to make the bracelets wider and more manly if you so choose.

How to make a macromea bracelet

Before you get going I just want to apologise for the sunscreen drip on some of the pictures. It was so bright out when I took them that I didn’t notice the stain! The backdrop is our cockpit cushions!

Anyway, to start you need a total of four strings hanging from a pencil. I took two very long pieces of string, folded them in half and then looped them around the top of the pencil.

Step 1: Take the furthest string on the left and cross it over the middle two strings. Pick up the furthest string on the right (it needs to be above all the other strings) and…

Step 2: Loop it under the middle two strings and up through the space created by the left string. Essentially, you’re just making a simple knot like you do before you tie a bow.

Step 3: Hold the middle two strings and pull the knot tight. I either used my teeth to hold the middle strings or if it was long enough I sat on them (see top picture).

Step 4: You’ll notice that once you pull the knot tight one side will have a nice round vertical loop. That’s the side where you need to start from on the next knot. In other words, we’re going to do the same thing over but using the furthest right string to start rather than the furthest left string.

Step 5: Take the furthest right string and cross it over the middle two strings.

Step 6: Take the furthest left string go over the right string and then under the middle two strings and then…

Step 7: Pull the string that was on the left up through the middle of the hoop on the right to create yet another simple knot.

Step 8: Pull tight and then repeat from the top.

As I made quite a few of these macromea bracelets all in one go I realised that it’s best to pull the knot firm but not too firm. Furthermore, you want to keep the strings in the middle flat – otherwise if they roll on top of each other the bracelet won’t lay flat.

Also…to make the bracelets look even better you can attach beads, shells or little pebbles. You can also use different coloured string or thin ribbons. To get some inspiration, do a search for macromea bracelets on Pinterest and you’ll get all sorts of ideas.

So, that’s how to make a macromea bracelet AND if you’re like me, that’s how to ward of sea sickness on long voyages!